Doctor in lipo controversy hired spy to scout MDs

The Toronto family doctor whose patient died after undergoing liposuction in September hired a private investigator to pose as a patient and spy on a competitor she alleges in a lawsuit is responsible for her drop in business.

The Toronto family doctor whose patient died after undergoing liposuction in September hired a private investigator to pose as a patient and spy on a competitor she alleges in a lawsuit is responsible for her drop in business.

Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar, a family physician without a surgical specialty or hospital privileges, performed the liposuction.

She has filed a $300,000 slander suit against plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Rice based on a secretly recorded conversation he had with a private investigator who visited him last month pretending to be interested in breast enlargement surgery and liposuction.

Rice was one of the physicians who tried unsuccessfully to revive Krista Stryland when she was brought into North York General Hospital on Sept. 20 after liposuction surgery at Yazdanfar's Toronto Cosmetic Clinic on Yonge St.

Stryland, a 32-year-old real estate agent and mother, died in hospital.

In a statement of claim filed in court by the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic and Yazdanfar, she says she suffered "a marked decline in profitability and unusual increase in the number of patient cancellations for scheduled cosmetic surgeries" this fall.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The drop in business prompted her to hire an investigative firm "to make inquiries within the cosmetic surgery industry and among competitors to determine if the business decline was related to or caused by competitors defaming (her)," the statement reads.

Yazdanfar did not respond to a request for an interview.

Her clinic's manager directed questions to lawyer Michael Kestenberg who would not offer comment on the allegations.

Rice also declined to comment and referred calls to his lawyer Brian Butler.

"Unquestionably there will be a statement of defence," Butler said. "Dr. Rice will defend himself."

Rice isn't the only physician to be targeted by Yazdanfar. At least one other doctor has received a letter from Yazdanfar's lawyers ordering him to "cease and desist" from making critical remarks on the threat of legal action, the Star has learned.

On Oct. 17, just a month after Stryland's death, investigator Francine Doyle attended a scheduled consultation for breast augmentation and liposuction with Rice at his Sheppard Ave. E. clinic, the statement of claim says.

Doyle, equipped with a hidden audio recording device, told Rice she had already had a consultation with Yazdanfar at the Cosmetic Clinic, the suit alleges.

Rice allegedly provided Doyle with different methods and types of breast implants and explained the differences between products offered by two companies. The suit alleges Rice told Doyle that one manufacturer won't sell to Yazdanfar and the other would only sell her saline implants.

Yazdanfar said in her statement of claim that's not true although one of the companies, Allergan Canada, confirmed to the Star last night it only sells breast implants to certified plastic surgeons.

The claim further alleges that when Doyle expressed hesitation to Rice regarding the safety of liposuction he made the following statements, "If anything were to happen to you here, we have everything here, a Royal College plastic surgeon, Royal College anesthesiologist, all RN certified nurses and everybody knows CPR ...

It continues: "You're not going to get anybody, who (is) more trained, than what you would get here in the office. Compared to (an) outside clinic, which doesn't have an RN, a Royal College certified anesthesiologist. Something happens to you there, they are like, and ok what do I (do) right ..."

The claim says the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic employs licensed anesthesiologists and "nurses registered with the college.

"Further, Dr. Yazdanfar at all times conducts the liposuction procedure in the presence of and with the assistance of a college certified anesthesiologist."

Yazdanfar, a graduate of the University of Ottawa who doesn't hold hospital privileges, said the words Rice spoke to Doyle were "slanderous" and "were calculated by him to disparage and injure the Cosmetic Clinic's business and Dr. Yazdanfar's professional reputation."

Rice is a plastic surgeon, certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and he has hospital privileges at North York General, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Women's College Hospital.

Following Stryland's late September death, Yazdanfar and her clinic were the subject of front-page headlines and broadcast news reports focusing on the lack of regulation around cosmetic surgery in Ontario.

In response to mounting pressure from the media and the public after her death, the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons proposed tighter regulations for the cosmetic surgery industry.

The measures include restrictions against use of the phrase "cosmetic surgeon" for those who hold no surgical speciality and proposed inspections of private clinics where cosmetic procedures are done.

Two weeks ago, college officials said they are investigating 16 doctors performing high-risk cosmetic procedures in private clinics that could be a danger to the public because of concerns about their qualifications and training. They would not identify the physicians by name.

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